I've seen some write-ups on getting VS Code running on a Pi. I was able to get it running last night, but it appears I'm having a problem with the Language Support for Java by Red Hat (0.9.0). It appears to be when intellisense is kicking in. I was curious if anyone else has VS Code with a Java extension working on a Pi?

FYI: Looking at a Pi solution, since I want to setup a programming lab for training. Our Makerspace and team are offering classes to nearby teams, so the pi solution makes a setup of 10-20 stations cost effective.

If you're interested in the error I'm getting, here they are....

Problem with codeComplete for file://....test.java
null
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
at sun.nio.fs.UnixPath.getName(UnixPath.java:321)

This is a neat idea. I have nothing to add to help with troubleshooting it but I'd love to see someone build a raspbian image with all the FRC bits installed if that's possible or a setup script to make that happen. Would be kinda cool.

I think I'm close, at least I hope I'm close. I first started on a Pi Zero, but once you have to deal adapters for the micro connections, the price difference between the Zero and the 3 isn't that great. Plus with the Pi3, I'll install OpenCV and we can teach vision processing on the same platform.

So, one thing that surprised me was extensions. The first Java extension I tried to install (by microsoft) wouldn't install. So, maybe some extensions won't work on the Pi. Hoping to get around that.

Maybe if I can get this working, I might have some pain points for the wpilib devs to think about. I'm looking about $125-150 per station if I get it working.

A lot of VS Code extensions depend on native code. For the C++ one, there is only support for Linux x64, windows and mac. It is highly unlikely arm support will be added to that. So for C++, getting intellisense and debugging support on a Pi won't be possible. For Java, I'm not surprised it doesn't work on the Pi. The Pi isn't officially supported by VS Code, so none of the extensions are tested against it.

For the new WPILib extensions, we have everything written in TypeScript, so in theory everything would work. But we are unlikely to add that to our official testing and support, for the reason of VS Code itself isn't supported on the Pi.

The Pi also has issues with low amounts of memory. Both VS Code and Gradle require a decent amount of memory, and through my independent testing, Gradle will occasionally crash on the Pi because it runs out of ram. We don't have any control over the memory usage of these components, so there is likely not much we can do to solve the crashes.

__________________
All statements made are my own and not the feelings of any of my affiliated teams.
Teams 1510 and 2898 - Student 2010-2012
Team 4488 - Mentor 2013-2016
Co-developer of RobotDotNet, a .NET port of the WPILib.

The Pi also has issues with low amounts of memory. Both VS Code and Gradle require a decent amount of memory, and through my independent testing, Gradle will occasionally crash on the Pi because it runs out of ram. We don't have any control over the memory usage of these components, so there is likely not much we can do to solve the crashes.